How employers implement or upgrade their applicant tracking
system (ATS) has a huge impact on
whether the project is a success or
a failure. If you focus on short-term
affordability and think only about your
immediate hiring plans, the odds will
be stacked against you.

“Many times, the dissatisfaction is
the result of the company’s lack of understanding of its own internal needs or [of]
looking solely at price or product capabilities to find the right provider,” says
Madeline Laurano, co-founder of Aptitude Research Partners, an HR technology research firm based in Boston.

Another driving force behind discon-tent is that the traditional ATS functionhas now become part of a larger talentacquisition (TA) system, presenting tech-nical challenges for many organizations.

“The traditional ATS does not integrate well, and it doesn’t adapt to the
fast technology leaps being made in
mobile and social recruiting. That
forces recruiters to seek out loopholes
and workarounds,” says Mike Webster,
senior vice president of technology and
operations consulting for the Americas
at Talent Collective, a talent acquisition
consultancy based in London.

Next-generation TA systems provide
end-to-end recruitment management,

including features that help recruiters
attract and engage talent not just right
now but also for future roles, experts say.

Step 1: Know Your Needs
Start the process of upgrading or overhauling your ATS by defining what you
ultimately want from it.

“Step back from the situation to con-sider why it’s time to replace your talentacquisition platform,” says Leela Srini-vasan, chief marketing officer at Lever, atalent acquisition platform based in SanFrancisco. “What’s actually working intoday’s process? What’s not working?What parts of the process do you like?What would you like to change?”Avoid “feature-focused” conversa-tions early on, says Katherine Maughan,product marketing manager for Green-house, a recruitment software companybased in New York City. “Instead, iden-tify where your recruiting function feelsthe greatest opportunities are, or whatthey feel is most limiting to their work.”It’s also critical to get input fromstakeholders outside of talent acquisition.“Recruiting is an inherently collaborativeprocess, so sit down with the teams yourrecruiters are working with regularly,”Maughan says. “Learn what frustratesthem about your current system and whatthey hope to see in the future.”HR should also understand the orga-nization’s purchasing priorities. “It’smore important for HR to prioritizeneeds than to identify a laundry list ofwants,” says Kyle Lagunas, researchmanager for emerging trends in talentacquisition and staffing at IDC, a globalmarket intelligence company based inFramingham, Mass.

Step 2: Determine Fit andFunctionality

Make sure that the TA system you
choose will fit in with your current
By Roy Maurer